pan bagnat

21Jun

Happy first day of Summer! Our weather decided to co-operate for the first time-it’s sunny and in the high 70’s. Since it is so nice out, I wanted an easy dinner where I didn’t have to stand over a stove for a long time. Who wants to be indoors any longer this year?

Pan bagnat is a specialty of Nice, France and is basically a salad Nicoise (hard-boiled eggs, tuna, vegetables, olive oil/vinegar, olives) inside a round loaf of bread. The flavors and juices of the filling are soaked up in the bread during the final stage of compressing the sandwich with a heavy skillet. Consider it the next time you make a picnic lunch or a hot summertime dinner.

Pan Bagnat

one recipe of speedy no-knead bread

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

salt and pepper

2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced

2 cans Albacore tuna, packed in water, drained

1/2 english cucumber, sliced thin

1/4 purple onion, sliced thin

3 Tbsp. olive tapenade (I used Trader Joe’s)

3 basil leaves, thinly sliced

Cut bread in half horizontally. Tear out most of the soft interior on the top and bottom. Place bottom on baking sheet.

Whisk together vinegar, olive oil and mustard. Add salt and pepper. Toss 2 tablespoons of the dressing with the tuna. Toss the remaining dressing with the cucumbers and onion.

Spread olive tapenade on the bottom of the bread. Arrange basil, then egg slices. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Layer on tuna, then cucumber and onions. Place top of bread on top.

Wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Place another baking sheet on top of bread and weight it down with something heavy, such as a cast-iron skillet, or several canned goods. Let stand at least 1 hour at room temperature (or refrigerate up to overnight). Cut into wedges. Makes 8 servings.

Using the Weight Watcher Recipe Builder, I calculated each serving to be 6 WWpts+. (Since I know my speedy no-knead bread is 2 pts+ per ounce, I just weighed my bread after I removed the soft interior. Then I calculated the total number of points for the loaf.)

If you want to be a bit more decadent, you could use oil packed tuna for a richer flavor.

I made this last summer when we were heading off for a vacation where we needed to stop for lunch on the way. It was delicious. This year, I’m doing it again, but we’ll be eating this on the plane when we fly to Italy.